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Motor Seized??? After Oil Pan Gasket Replaced

Hello - replaced oil pan gasket, everything back together car fired up, let run for about 10 minutes, took for test drive Drove for about 5 minutes, heard something, got out, popped hood, all looked ok, got back in car, (still running) started driving car died and will not fire. No engine lights came on. Oil level checked fine. Had battery replaced 3 months ago. Motor will not spin even with plugs out. Tried replacing starter. Do have power from battery to the starter. Any ideas??? Is the motor seized?

Put a wrench on the crank and try it by hand. If it turns, no, if not, yes. If you can change an oil pan gasket and starter I'm surprised you haven't tried this.
A failure catastrophic enough to seize the engine would give warning, over heating, low oil pressure eventually accompanied by the inevitable awful noises an engine makes when the bearings fail. Your scenario is a bit implausible.

If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

As i stated , motor will not spin, even with plugs out, guess I should have been more specific, by using a wrench, I tried to turn the motor. It turns a few inches, that is it. Was not sure if BMW had something else weird (being BMW) that maybe I needed to know about that might have been stopping it. I just find it odd that a motor just seized out of no where. No metal in oil, no warning, no lights, no nothing.

Originally Posted by mbass3598

Hello - replaced oil pan gasket, everything back together car fired up, let run for about 10 minutes, took for test drive Drove for about 5 minutes, heard something, got out, popped hood, all looked ok, got back in car, (still running) started driving car died and will not fire. No engine lights came on. Oil level checked fine. Had battery replaced 3 months ago. Motor will not spin even with plugs out. Tried replacing starter. Do have power from battery to the starter. Any ideas??? Is the motor seized?

As i stated , motor will not spin, even with plugs out, guess I should have been more specific, by using a wrench, I tried to turn the motor. It turns a few inches, that is it. Was not sure if BMW had something else weird (being BMW) that maybe I needed to know about that might have been stopping it. I just find it odd that a motor just seized out of no where. No metal in oil, no warning, no lights, no nothing.

'

If it turns at all it's not "seized" perse. What you describe sounds to me like perhaps a main bearing failure. When they go they don't protest as loudly as a bearing in a rod end which is constantly changing direction. I've seen a wiped out main that actually turned enough within the saddle to overlap the other bearing shell, effectively wedging the crank in place. It would turn a few degrees and stop, turning it backwards* would "free" it but would lock up again if turned again in the proper rotation direction. What you describe reminds me of that scenario, which, by the way, died from oil starvation. Motor was junk, crank wiped out and overheated as were two main bearing saddles, didn't bother to examine much else closely but I don't remember any spun rod bearings which I thought a bit remarkable.
What happens when you turn the engine the other direction?
Regardless of what the failure if it won't turn it'll need to come apart. I wonder if a piece of debris from the gasket job could have somehow gotten into an oil passage. Was the pump off?

* this was only possible using a LOT of leverage, as in hanging on a six foot pipe.

Last edited by ross1; 03-06-2018 at 10:02 AM.

If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue